Tag Archives: Antique Toys

For those of you just approaching menopause, who are technically in the years known as “perimenopause,” there’s a bit of advice at the end of this post (and hopefully others will chime in with some too). One of the most confusing aspects of the whole shebang to me was figuring out what symptoms might be menopause and what symptoms might be signals of a serious health concern.

It’s majorly weird when things are going on with your body and your mind, and you’re not sure what the deal is.

New, odd stuff would be happening to me (bugs crawling up my arm (read it here) being the strangest). Could this be menopause? I’d go to one of the lists such as 34 Menopause Symptoms, and I’d usually find it it there. Yep, it’s menopause.

Women should come with personalized instruction books. Now there’s an idea! If I could run the world, I would institute that plan (and give each book a funky, upbeat cover).

Menopause is a puzzle. For me it was one of the biggest puzzles of my life. A physical puzzle. A mental puzzle. An emotional puzzle. I love puzzles, but not being a puzzle whiz, it took me a while to get my pegs in a row.

And so the bit of advice: expect to be puzzled. Expect to have some worries. Expect to feel like, yep, you’re riding a roller coaster. And as you work to put your pegs into your very own puzzle, be patient.

Photo:My Puzzle-Peg game is a version of peg solitaire. A Wiki history says peg solitaire games probably go back to the days of Louis XIV. The first artistic rendering of someone playing peg solitaire dates to 1697. Here she is: Anne de Rohan-Chabot, Princess of Soubise, in the engraving you see below. I don’t know what ya’ll think, but The Princess looks menopausal and puzzled to me: